UPDATE B4RN Rural Broadband Project Sees Queen’s Birthday Honours

The CEO of the community funded and built B4RN network (Barry Forde), which is currently rolling out an ultrafast Gigabit capable fibre optic (FTTH) network to homes across remote parts of rural Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria in England, has today been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (2015).

The honours system generally recognises people who have made achievements in public life and or committed themselves to serving and benefitting Britain, such as by helping to make the lives of other people or communities better. Proposed awards are chosen by the honours committee and their decisions then go to the Prime Minister and then to the Queen, who awards the honour.

Suffice to say that B4RN’s volunteer driven and community funded deployment of Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband services, which has already helped to connect well over 1000+ homes in rural Lancashire, would certainly qualify. As such it’s little surprise to find that Barry Forde has officially pickup up an honour for all that work.

The Queen’s Birthday Honour for B4RN’s CEO

THE QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty’s Birthday, to give orders for the following promotions in, and appointments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire:

M.B.E.

To be Ordinary Members of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order:

Professor Barry FORDE

Chief Executive, Broadband for the Rural North

For services to Superfast Broadband in Rural Communites.

Nicely done.

UPDATE 7:22am

Happily it looks as if B4RN’s often outspoken Christine Conder also picked up an M.B.E for the same reason. Congrats!